the heavy rain yesterday was focused around the city. right now it is out west. in frederick, you guys will see some heavy rain for the next half hour or so. there could be some standing water on the roads. rain showers are likely today. maybe some thunderstorms. most of the activity will be this morning. high temperatures in the upper 70's, it may be near 80. the evening commute will be much better. seven-day forecast is coming up in just a few minutes. >> we have an accident in middle river. this is one to avoid. it is at kingston wrote an eastern boulevard. akfield avenue, police are on the scene and closures may be in affect. 52 on southbound 95.

smooth ride on the north side of the beltway. no problems reported on the j.f.x. this is the beltway and the east side looks great. this is traffic in the area of the key bridge. it looks very good. the rest of the area bridges are in good shape. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. now back to you. >> thank you. a merger between the nation's two largest discount airlines could be on the horizon. >> kim dacey joins us live from federal hill with more on what this will mean for the airport and baltimore. >> southwest is the largest air carrier in baltimore. one economist says the announcement will mean good things for baltimore and bwi

southwest airlines is the largest carrier for bwi, running 140 flights out of baltimore. a merger between southwest and airtran will mean more flights and more passengers. passengers will spend more money on things like parking and a food. that translates into more money for the city and state. >> there could be benefits for hotels if baltimore is a more convenient destination. convention planners will choose hotels here. that is good news. >> there are still some unanswered questions about the deal. no decisions have been made about eliminating employees. there will likely be job losses on the corporate level. more jobs could come to baltimore. >> southwest gets bigger at bwi. there are more flights. more flights mean more people

needed to book the flights, to help passengers, including screening them through security. >> there are positives about the merger, there could be revenue. revend kim dacey, wbal-tv 11 news. >> a building tumbles to the ground in northwest baltimore triggered a frantic search for survivors. officials confirmed nobody was trapped inside the rubble, which was once a vacant home on druid hill avenue. another vacant building has collapsed and baltimore city. this was early this morning in norfolk avenue in northwest. we're still trying to get information on that. four people are dead after being

thrown from their vehicle. this happened along route 50. police say that crash involved a couple of box trucks. it is not certain if weather played a role in the crash. >> a white supremacist will spend years behind bars. he was sentenced for the beating of james privett. attack would not have happened if the man was white. >> authorities want to keep an eye on social media outlets in their fight against terrorism. this could lead to a change in wiretap laws. that possibility is getting a mixed reception. >> it is not hard to find a connected college student. is asomputer screen close as say laptop or a cell

phone. >> i honestly cannot doing anything wrong. i think is fine. >> this has been ok for law- enforcement to wiretap suspected terrorist through cell phones and chat rooms. the law has to stop decrepit messages from blackberry or networking sites like facebook or skype. >> they should be able to look at facebook because you want to catch the bad guy. >> is your own personal business. finding them on your time, yes. but you don't have to go and buy blackberry to find something wrong because the obama administration is trying to strike a balance between security needs and protecting privacy. >> it might start out that we're just doing facebook and then it goes on to everything.

>> if the government is doing something to help protect me and my family, i am for it. >> they want to keep up on the bad guys and the technology they are using. do not expect any of this to happen until early next year. >> i do not know if they are doing it right now. >> they should legalize it. >> any changes will bring up privacy concerns because it will be harder to find out things. it doesn't mean they have to find ways to look into technology to see what we're doing. they should find another way to see if we're doing something wrong or not. >> that brings us to your answers to our water cooler question of the day. what do you think of the possibility of expanding wiretap laws to include social media like facebook, skype, and twitter? e-mail your response to watercooler@wbaltv.com. again, that is watercooler@wbaltv.com. >> 71 degrees on tv hill.

researchers have found a defective gene that could be responsible for my greens. >> a possible explanation as to why some people develop a disease. >> we are tracking 3 problems on the roads. the roads. we'll update you

bob ehrlich pretends to be for the working guy... but he's not on our side. i thought i knew bob ehrlich, but then i found out... he raised property taxes on every maryland family... and business. he increased college tuition... by 40%. 40%. and i thought i knew bob ehrlich. he was against raising the minimum wage. made $2.5 million... working for a lobbying firm. $2.5 million? he's not really on my side. with this tough economy, we really need a governor on our side. >> welcome back. 73 degrees downtown. there is some light rain in baltimore. give yourself some extra time this morning. heavy rain moving through frederick county right now. there could be some minor flooding. this should move into southern pennsylvania. it is serious heavy rain in

frederick county at the present time. things will get better. rainshowers are likely this morning. i think the sun will break through with a high near 79. we will check the seven-day forecast coming up in just a few minutes. for now, to the news desk. >> scientists discovered a faulty gene they believe is the root of migraine headaches. researchers found a gene is defective, it can trigger a nurse in the brain that cause a headache. this could cost the production of a new drug. >> i have missed lots of events like weddings. i have missed flights. the worst thing is how unpredictable they are. you can never say when you'll get one. you do not know whether you will be able to make important

meetings. >> migraines are rated as one of the leading causes of problems in the world. >> environmental factors may be behind the dramatic increase in older people with a disease. it is an autoimmune disorder triggered by eating clingluton. a growing prevalence of the disease has been found in the elderly. subjects got the disease later in life. researchers say since 1974, the incidence of this disorder has doubled every 15 years. it is pretty dramatic. >> 71 degrees -- the temperature would be 71 degrees. pete gilbert will join us with the latest in the sports world.

>> this is a live look over the downtown area. we will double check weather and traffic for your morning commute. stay with us. stay with us.

>> now traffic pulse 11 and insta-weather plus together. >> good morning. a few things to watch out for. there is rain and the will impact the ride through the morning rush. norfolk avenue, watch for police activity related to an overnight vacant building collapse. we have a problem drew a park lake drive. there is a vehicle fire to watch for. you may find some closures at eastern boulevard in the middle river. 11 minutes on the outer loop north and west side. still moving very well. eight minutes on the inner loop over towards 83.

the east side continues to run well. this is a live view heading towards the bay bridge occurred the toll plaza looks good. no problems on the bay bridge. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. now let's get the latest on the buses and the trains. good morning. >> we have a delay on the 24 and the 40 busked, both running about 15 minutes late. we have the five bus with a diversion at central. the 10 and 30 bust are diverting at pratt street and light street. marc trains looking very good at this hour. no delays at penn, camden, and brunswick lines so far. now back to tony pann. >> we are off to a wet start again. the focus of the heavy rain is all out in the western suburbs. there is trouble in frederick county. the heaviest rain is now north

of the city in frederick. there could be some minor flooding going on. we picked up about an inch of rain in the last 45 minutes. minor flooding is possible in frederick county this morning. we have light rain around baltimore city. same thing on the eastern shore counties. the focus of the heaviest rain is in the far western suburbs. this is moving pretty quickly pared by about 6:15, most of it will be in the southern parts of pennsylvania. this is all part of a big complex storm the system. showers and thunderstorms extend from here all the way into the carolinas. the center is in west virginia. you cannot see it better on the satellite imagery. the circulation is there -- you can see better on the satellite

imagery. you can see some breaks in the overcast in virginia. i think we will get some sun this afternoon. the evening commute will be much better than the morning commute. this system will push off over the next six to 12 hours. there is another front waiting in the wings at the great lakes. it will come through wednesday night with another chance for rain showers. upper 60's and low 70's right now. relatively mild for this time of the morning in september. we should make it to around 80 this afternoon. showers and thunderstorms this morning and clearing. partly cloudy tonight. temperatures drop back into the low 60's. most of tomorrow will be dry. there could be some rain coming

back wednesday night and during the day on thursday. friday night into saturday morning, we could see another round of rain showers. we wind up with the chilly weather with highs in the 60's and overnight lows in the 40's. >> thank you. it is happening right here in baltimore city. everybody knows about the health problems people are facing. >> many of those problems can be controlled with a good diet and exercise. stephanie rawlings-blake led the way yesterday saying it is time for all residents to get healthy. robert route 1 has those details. blin has a- rob rout those details. >> they started with aerobics at city hall today.

fall by the western high school dance team -- followed by the western high school dance team. all to support healthy city days. >> we live in a city with the best health institution in the world. we should have the healthiest citizens in the world. we will make that happen. >> those in attendance got some exercise, taking a walk from city hall down to the science center at the inner harbor. donna hamilton and her daughter were here for the walk. >> i think the rates of diabetes in the city is disgraceful. we have to do something about this. the journey starts with one step. it is time for baltimore to take that one step. >> on pratt street, deanna cook and her daughter were making

healthy smoothies. >> these will keep you going all day and help you lose weight and make your skin great. asteor those taking the test test. >> it tastes pretty good. >> it is better than i thought. >> i do not like it. i tried the banana barry. it is a little better. >> there are healthy activities every day this week. >> for more healthy city days events, including a chance to work out later today with riray rice, go to our website. >> 71 degrees. much more ahead --

>> including a look at your answers to our water cooler question of the day. >> here is a look at last night's winning maryland lottery numbers.

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>> time to get to one of your answers to our water cooler question of the day. >> this morning we asked -- what do you think of the possibility of expanding wiretap laws to include social media like facebook, skype, and twitter?

>> keep e-mailing those responses to watercooler@wbaltv.com. we will read more of your responses in the next hour and post all of them on the front page of our website. >> good morning. a happier week for the ravens. the test this sunday goes to a midterm exam. third away game. joe flacco's rebound game and a great game for anquan boldin. to deliver with three touchdowns against cleveland. that is backing up a whole lot of talk. the ravens needed all three

scores to collect their second win of the year. this was a game in which great players must shine. >> we had our backs to the wall, a division opponent, a very important game for us. our guys needed to execute in all three phases. we made those plays in the fourth quarter. >> ray rice showed no ligament or cartilage damage. he injured his knee in sunday's game against the browns. he has a deep bruise. the ravens do not know if rice can play against pittsburg un. tampa bay and the orioles. tampa had a chance to clinch a playoff spot. buck showalter was out of the dugout. he had to watch for might press box after getting a suspension.

nick markakis and this is into the gap. 1-0 the orioles take the lead. they do not need much more than that. brian maddest pitched well -- brian matusz pitched well. a collective gem. last week of the season. the orioles are trying to end things in style. buck showalter did not know what to do. >> ok. here's a look ahead to next hour. >> the grand old opry is set to reopen. >> some changes to the way you receive some irs information. >> a cat in the dock is an unlikely pair -- a cat and a

dog is an unlikely pair. >> we have rain moving through the western suburbs. >> that rain could impact your morning rush. we already have one accident of note on 95. we will update you on that and more.

>> a big airline merger could mean big changes for passengers and for baltimore. that story is straight ahead. >> i am kate amara in washington with the senate debates to keep jobs out of the cou.